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Raul1983
Interesting subject
I remember right after the war there were lot of old American cars on the road like 70's-80's Impala's, Caprice's and even Camaro's. Once I even saw a 1930's American car in a news footage. But very soon used cars started to flow from Europe replacing many of the older cars. In 2003-2004 you could see almost any kind of car (in news) ranging from a 1960's Sunbeam Gazelle to old Moskvitch's. Nowadays it seems that 50% of the passenger cars are Opel's. Especially models Vectra A, Omega A, Astra F and Kadett E.
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Here is a short overview of vehicles used in Iraq. It was hard to find good pictures of cars (not charred from car bombs).
Van
Over 90% of the minibuses in Iraq are Kia Besta type. I don't know the reason for its popularity. It is very common and cheap public transport inside cities. All minivan cabs regardless of the make are called Kia's in everyday language.
Taxi
The most common taxi type in Iraq is a Brazilian-made Volkswagen Passat. It is nick-named 'Brazili'. It's the cheapest car in Iraq and known for its unreliability. There was a some kind of a deal between Brazil and Iraq in the 80's and atleast thousands of cars were imported.
Second popular type is a big Toyota Crown.
Also GAZ Volga's are quite common.
Iraqi Army
Mostly pick-up's with a machine gun mounted to the bed. Various makes and models in use; Isuzu D-Max, Toyota Hilux, Nissan Pickup, Chevrolet Silverado, Ford F-Series Heavu Duty etc.
Chevy Silverado and Ford F-250 and even Dodge Ram's are numerous in Iraqi security forces. These are usually lightly armoured with thick metal plates covering the doors.
Police forces have Land Cruiser, Tahoe SUV's + few old UAZ 469 vehicles.
Civilian vehicles
As I said most popular make is Opel and therefore Opel-based Daewoo's are also very common (Daewoo Nexia, Prince, Espero etc.). Infact all South-Korean vehicles are popular (except SsangYong). From other German makes most widely seen are BMW 5 [E34], 7 [E32], 3 [E36], MB W124 and MB S-Klasse W126.
Traffic view from Baghdad.
I remember right after the war there were lot of old American cars on the road like 70's-80's Impala's, Caprice's and even Camaro's. Once I even saw a 1930's American car in a news footage. But very soon used cars started to flow from Europe replacing many of the older cars. In 2003-2004 you could see almost any kind of car (in news) ranging from a 1960's Sunbeam Gazelle to old Moskvitch's. Nowadays it seems that 50% of the passenger cars are Opel's. Especially models Vectra A, Omega A, Astra F and Kadett E.
------------------------
Here is a short overview of vehicles used in Iraq. It was hard to find good pictures of cars (not charred from car bombs).
Van
Over 90% of the minibuses in Iraq are Kia Besta type. I don't know the reason for its popularity. It is very common and cheap public transport inside cities. All minivan cabs regardless of the make are called Kia's in everyday language.
Taxi
The most common taxi type in Iraq is a Brazilian-made Volkswagen Passat. It is nick-named 'Brazili'. It's the cheapest car in Iraq and known for its unreliability. There was a some kind of a deal between Brazil and Iraq in the 80's and atleast thousands of cars were imported.
Second popular type is a big Toyota Crown.
Also GAZ Volga's are quite common.
Iraqi Army
Mostly pick-up's with a machine gun mounted to the bed. Various makes and models in use; Isuzu D-Max, Toyota Hilux, Nissan Pickup, Chevrolet Silverado, Ford F-Series Heavu Duty etc.
Chevy Silverado and Ford F-250 and even Dodge Ram's are numerous in Iraqi security forces. These are usually lightly armoured with thick metal plates covering the doors.
Police forces have Land Cruiser, Tahoe SUV's + few old UAZ 469 vehicles.
Civilian vehicles
As I said most popular make is Opel and therefore Opel-based Daewoo's are also very common (Daewoo Nexia, Prince, Espero etc.). Infact all South-Korean vehicles are popular (except SsangYong). From other German makes most widely seen are BMW 5 [E34], 7 [E32], 3 [E36], MB W124 and MB S-Klasse W126.
Traffic view from Baghdad.